


From Red to Gray

by TheSentientElf



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:31:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6196897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSentientElf/pseuds/TheSentientElf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In his search to find the last Jedi, Kylo stumbles across something far more interesting: a self proclaimed Gray Jedi with a knack for the Dark Side. The fiery Gray must choose to either save the universe, or save herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bring Her To Me

**Author's Note:**

> This story has also been posted on FF.net.

  
On a little planet located deep in the Outer Rim, the night was quiet. The planet for the most part was untouched by galactic forces, even after the multiple wars and rebellions.

Tonight was the night that everything would change.

The silent night was broken by the sound of thrusters. Ships slowly emerged over the horizon. Kylo Ren watched from his ship as trees buckled under the force his fleet. As his ships got closer to the town, he could feel the tremors, the disturbances in the Force.

They found him. The last missing piece to Luke Skywalker.

"What is this place?" Kylo Ren spoke to one of his officers beside him. The man scrambled, looking through maps on his hand-held.

"Uh, I believe it's uncharted territory, sir. Ahk'Tabah? All that's known about it is that it's home to the Tabachians; humanoids, middle to dark skin, unknown if hostile," the man said, pulling up their current location.

"Send them in with a strict no kill order," he said, his voice manipulator making him sound a lot more sinister than he intended as he turned to his captain. "Find the man. Bring him to me alive."

"Yes sir," Captain Phasma nodded before beginning to bark orders. As ships landed, screams could be heard in the night. The city was awake, and full of fear.

The ground trembled as his ship landed on the snow and ice, kicking up a smokescreen as it landed. Stormtroopers poured out of the hatch when it hit the ground, and Kylo followed just as the city went up in flames. People started flooding the streets and wound up straight into the hands of the First Order.

Kylo ignored the screams of the children, focusing in on the one person they were here for.

Something was off. There was a disturbance in the Force, something so great it was something that more than caught his attention. He could feel it pulsing through the ground. The Force was reaching out, calling out to him like it was betraying whoever was wielding it.

"Sir," Captain Phasma said, snapping him from his concentration. "My men have found nothing but civilians," she said, holding her blaster close to her chest.

He turned his head to see past her, seeing a small cloth tent just on the outskirts of the town.

The Force was calling to him again, pulling him towards the tent like a beacon. He ignored Phasma's statement and pushed past her, grabbing his lightsaber that was hooked to his belt. The blade erupted from the hilt, illuminating the ground in an ominous glow. It popped and sparked as the snow hit it, and whether it was snow or ash, no one really quite knew.

The pulse of the Force grew stronger the closer he went. He took slow steps, knowing very well that at any moment he could have to fight back. He approached the tent, slowly pulling back the cloth cover to the entrance and hesitating to go inside.

He turned his head and came face to face with a woman. All he could made out were two glowing blue eyes staring back at him in the dark. Before he had a chance to react, a hand flew out and he froze. The Force she wielded was too strong for him to break through unprepared.

"You will take your men and leave peacefully," she said, her smooth voice not wavering once.

From underneath his helmet, he scoffed. "Your Jedi tricks will not work on me," he said, building up the strength to break free of her grasps. There was something off about her.

"Funny enough, not a Jedi," she said, almost forcefully so as she sneered at him. "But I do know the Force."

The next thing he knew, he could feel himself flying backwards out of the tent. His face met the cold snow and he rolled, his saber clattering to the ground beside him. With a bustle of chatter, Stormtroopers began to take aim at the tent, ready to attack when given the order.

Kylo quickly scrambled to his feet, his boots not quite getting traction on the loose snow. He called his lightsaber to him, angrily snapping it in his hand. He wasn't about to let her get the best of him again.

He watched closely as she stepped out of the tent, and with a quick gesture from his hand the sea of troopers pointed their guns at her. She didn't so much as flinch. She had two curved hilts attached to sheathes strapped to her back no doubt holding some sort of magnificent swords, and her hands clutched knives almost as long as her forearms. Whoever she was, she was involved in some heavy mercenary work.

"Whoever you're looking for, they aren't here," she bellowed to Kylo as he shook the snow from his helmet. "I would highly suggest leaving before you figure out it's too late."

Kylo stared at her, almost speechless. She was a cocky one, whoever this was. She held herself high in her own eyes.

"How long have you been hiding, Jedi?" he said, blatantly ignoring her request as he turned his lightsaber on again. He watched her eyes glimmer, almost like now he had grabbed her interest.

"You call this hiding?" she said, almost letting out a chuckle. "And I told you. I'm not a Jedi. You must not be from around here, otherwise you'd definitely know that."

He cocked his head to the right, still baffled by her words denouncing the Jedi title, let alone the amount of disrespect she was giving him. He's heard whispers about Gray Jedi's when he was a boy. They were considered traitors amongst the proper Jedi and Sith alike back when the Old Republic was around. They were neither good, nor evil. They just...were.

Now he was interested.

"A Gray Jedi then," he said. Things just got far more complicated than he intended them to. "I thought your species to be long extinct."

She gave a shrug, her face scrunching like she couldn't quite agree with the statement."I'll ask you again, nicely, to please leave. At least while you have a chance," she said. She walked closer to him, confidence spilling from her as she didn't even acknowledge the Stormtroopers all aiming at her frantically. She walked right up to Ren, a smirk on her face and a swagger about her that told him she really had no care in the world for her own life.

"And if I choose not to, how would you face the army before you?" he said, looking down on her. She was a good foot shorter than he was. If she chose to pick a fight, she could very easily be overpowered. "Can one Gray Jedi defeat the First Order by herself?" He cocked his head the other way. Now he was just being cocky, practically begging for a fight. He hadn't dueled with a Force user in quite some time.

"I'd like to take my chances," she said, twirling her blades in her hand as if she was taunting him.

She spun her two knives in her hand, but when he took a swing at her, he was surprised when she used her hand to guide the blade away from her without making contact. He lost his balance, the momentum he used for the swing causing him to trip forward. She had her back to his army now, and with a motion from his hands, he told his men to hold steady.

This was his fight.

It was like past and future colliding, she using dated weapons and he using that of a higher evolved race. He knew not to underestimate her, but he was finding it easier the more he fought plasma blade against metal blade. She was fairly good, however. Her movements were swift, she hardly ever left herself open enough to allow him time to attack at her weak spots, and she always seemed to keep one blade in the air while swiping at him with the other.

She kept close to him, using her blades to parry just at the hilt of his lightsaber to avoid getting in the path of his blade. With one quick downward movement, the red blade of his saber sliced through the metal like it was nothing, leaving her with nothing but hilts in her hand.

She quickly stumbled backwards, getting out of the way of his attack he aimed at her while she was left unarmed. His blade hit the snow and recoiled, he twirling the blade with the momentum as he waited for her next move.

"Your swords will prove pointless," he said, containing a laugh as she withdrew two long bladed swords from the hilts strapped to her back. "Whatever they are made of, whether it be of simple steal or the finest Tasmanian metals, my lightsaber can cut through anything," he said, twirling his lightsaber in his hand. He was taunting her, wanting her to show him her true power. He knew if she was strong in the Force, she had to have a saber tucked under her robes somewhere.

A sense of accomplishment washed through him as he watched her stick her blades into the snow.

"You know, I was going to save you the embarrassment, but since you've asked for it," she said, giving a shrug and reaching to something behind her back. She brought out a hilt, spinning it in her hand as she gave into his request.

She held up the hilt of her saber, and with a loud crack, a white blade appeared. Ren threw off his hood, ready for a real fight. Their blades clashed, crackling with every contact they made. With a flurry of feet, they parried back and forth, almost like a dance. His back was to his small army now, and it crossed his mind that he could very easily end this fight with one order.

As much as he wished to flex his power, he fought on.

She took a few steps back, avoiding his blade now instead of fighting back. He swung his saber at her, this time unavoidable to where she had to block his blade from slicing an arm off. He pushed her back, their blades meeting with a loud crack as they both tried to gain the upper hand, sabers locked tightly together. Her boots slid in the snow and ice under the pressure of his weight coming down on her, she trying to keep her blade from digging into her shoulder as he forced her back.

A hand left the hilt of her saber and with a swift hand movement, his foot slid, causing him to falter. Their blades separated, and the woman twirled her blade and chuckled like she was taunting him.

He could feel anger boiling in his chest as he realized he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He could sense a darkness to her she was hiding, and it ran deep for someone who claimed she turned Gray. However she wasn't necessarily good at combat with her saber, obviously the saber must have been putting out quite a pull when it was in her hand, but her sly little tricks to get the upper hand were dirty. He could feel the Dark Side boiling up alongside his anger, and he let it in.

The woman's eyes grew wide when he turned on his heels and began furiously slashing at her. He was relentless with his attacks, mercilessly going after her like she was prey. She blocked as well as she could, but the snow was hindering her movements. She watched him spin with his blade high in the air. She blocked the hit, and then was immediately greeted with his fist to her jaw.

He watched her hit the ground rather hard, satisfied he got the best of her for once. He put out a hand, and with his power, drug her up from the ground and held her by the neck. She dropped her saber, it hissing and bouncing as it hit the ground, and she tried to claw his hand from her throat. He squeezed just a little harder, enjoying watching her gasp for air.

She grabbed onto his wrists and used them to swing her feet square into his chest, causing him to falter and loose his grip on her. He stumbled back as she hit the ground, and he twirled his lightsaber menacingly as he calculated his next move.

Don't. Bring the girl to me.

The voice inside his head were unmistakable. His master was calling out to him, telling him...to spare the girl?

He watched her scramble for air and for her weapon. He grabbed it before she got the chance to continue fighting. He bent down to one knee and put his hand up to her forehead, sucking out her consciousness like it was a simple trick. Within the second, she was out cold. She slumped to the ground face first into the snow.

"Sir?" the voice of Captain Phasma called from the otherwise silent village.

Kylo stood up, hooking his saber back to his proper place and linking the girl's right beside it. "Snoke wants her alive," he said, rolling the girl over on her back. She was younger than he thought, at least a few years younger than him at least. Her long blonde hair stained the white snow, and blood was starting to ooze from her busted lip.

The Dark Side inside him started to recede, and he came back to his normal self.

"Kill the rest of the survivors. Leave no other trace of life," he ordered, picking up the girl and throwing her over his shoulder. He headed to his ship, almost angry his master refused to let him have the satisfaction of killing the girl. She challenged him, and couldn't deliver anything impressive. Why should she live? And why all of a sudden did Snoke want her?

He growled, gently putting her on the floor of his ship out of the way of most of the commotion made as the fleet was getting ready to leave. What seemed to be a simple task turned far more complicated than he expected and left far more questions than answers. Whatever she was, there was something about her far darker than he sensed before. He studied her carefully, noting several scars and, even more curious, a small Sith symbol was inked into her wrist and though it was faded, it was still visible.

He shook his head. The more he looked at the girl, the more questions he had. The most important one was:

Who was she?


	2. Relentless

The last thing she remembered was the consciousness being sucked from her mind in excruciating pain and the cold, wet snow on her face. As she felt something filling her mind and waking her up, she heard murmurs of voices wherever they were.

"How long have you been at this?" an unfamiliar voice spoke lowly to her left.

"Hours." That was a familiar voice. The menacing voice of the man she was fighting what seemed like moments ago. "Her mind is impenetrable. The erases seem to only be temporary."

"I see you finally gave in and bound her up. Resuming the torture method, I presume?" the unfamiliar voice spoke again.

"I see you missed a knife hidden on her person when I first brought her on the ship. Maybe had you done your job, I would not be bleeding after the last round," Kylo spoke.

"How about next time, instead of trusting your prisoner, you tie them up so they aren't able to stab you in the back, quite literally so," the other man spoke, only to get a groan out of Kylo in response.

She tried to stay still and kept her eyes locked shut, listening in to everything as her mind slowly came to. She could feel blood trickling down her nose and even tasted it in her mouth. As she woke up fully, she could feel her entire body aching and in pain. She was bound, tied to a chair and chained tight. Whatever they were talking about definitely sounded like something she would do, and oh she wished she had the memory to prove it.

"Well the Supreme Leader isn't happy. Whatever you plan on doing, do it quickly," the unfamiliar voice said. Whoever he was, he was a military man.

"Tell Snoke he will have his new student in due time. As for you, General Hux, I suggest you remember who you are addressing."

"You are far too amused with her, Ren," Hux said like he was chastising a child and ignoring the threat made towards him. "She's just as dangerous as you are. Hell, with her arsenal she had when you brought her in, she's probably more so-"

"Does it not fascinate you how a Force user willingly gave up using the force for such inferior weapons?"

"No, what fascinates me is that you just want a pet to play with because you're too lonely on your own," Hux interrupted, visibly rolling his eyes. "At least admit it she's everything to do with you finding a petty little friend. If you tell the Supreme Leader, I'm sure he would love to give you a new toy."

Before anything was else was said, a force slammed the side of her face into the head rest of the chair. She cried out in pain, reeling against the binds holding her to the chair.

"You think I don't realize when you're conscious?" the familiar voice said to her, almost in her ear he was so close to her.

Her head was screaming in pain. She felt blood pour into her mouth and she gagged as she swallowed.

"I'm sorry, exactly who do you think you are?" she hoarsely spoke, barely able to talk. She couldn't move her head. He was pressing it into the headrest of the chair with such a strong force and she didn't have the strength to break it.

"None of your concern. The more important question is who are you?" With that, he moved his outstretched hand, and her head slammed into the other side of the chair.

She groaned, this time able to keep her vocals under control. The force he was using was incredibly strong, to the point he was pressing her skull into the chair so hard she was shocked she hadn't gotten a cracked skull from him yet.

"Kylo, please," the other man said, almost like he was reeling Kylo in. "Snoke wants her alive if you remember," he said, hands clutched behind his back.

She chuckled, licking her lips as she enjoyed the pain now that it wasn't excruciating. "You can keep at it, sweety, I don't break very easily," she taunted, eyeing the masked man from the corner of her eyes.

She felt the pressure on her head release, and before Kylo had the chance to snap, she leaned as far up in the chair as possible with the little energy she had, startling the two men at her sudden movement.

She made eye contact with the red head, and with hungry eyes spoke slowly. "You will stop talking, and you will leave the room."

The room grew silent, and the red head rolled his eyes and chuckled. "My, you've really gotten a smart one, haven't you Ren-"

As soon as he broke eye contact, his jaw snapped shut and he walked out of the room without so much of a word of protest. A dark laugh came from her throat as she watched him leave. She laid back in the chair, spitting blood where Hux once stood. A smirk coiled on her lips that were stained with blood and she spat again.

Kylo stared at her in shock. The more he seemed to interrogate her, the more questions he had and the more intriguing this woman became. Not only that, the more he prodded at her, the more manic she grew. At first he had been gentle, asking questions and gaining little ground, yet her own provoked attacks led to her current predicament.

"Jedi mind tricks are only effective on the weak minded," he said, standing up from his seat and standing directly in front of the woman. "How?"

She exhaled hard, wincing in pain but her menacing smirk never left her lips. "When you understand who a person in on the inside, being weak minded has nothing to do with it," she said, watching Kylo just as intensely as he was watching her. "Also, not a Jedi."

"Tell me your name," he said, intimidating her yet again. He was growing impatient. He paced in a circle around her, watching her eyes follow him

"What, I haven't told you yet?" she smart mouthed. "You said you've been mind wiping me for hours, I'm sure I've said it before. Had you actually taken the time to interrogate effectively, you would have already found out that those more recently taught in the Gray Jedi ways have a resistance to any sort of telepathy," she said, wincing as she struggled. She was suddenly forced back, a great pressure on her chest keeping her still.

He couldn't tell if she was lying or not. Kylo outstretched his hand, concentrating with everything he had. Then the pain hit her. It started in her chest, traveled across her body. At first it was mild, practically unnoticeable as it swirled through her body. The more she ignored it, the more it grew. It went from mild to extreme, and then to excruciating. The pounding in her head was like drums, screaming in time to her heart beating.

She screamed in agony. The pain grew to the point where it was unbearable. It was like knives stabbing through her all at once, relentless and unyielding.

"Emma! It's Emma!" she screamed as the pain radiated through her body.

The pressure released, and she crumpled in the chair. The pain receded and she gasped for air. As she slowly caught her breath, she looked up to see Kylo pacing the floor around her.

"A pretty name for a pretty face, right?" he said, circling around her like she was prey. "Tell me, Emma, why do you keep fighting?"

"Because apparently I have something you want, and I'm not going to let you have it," she said. Her voice was beginning to fade. She tried to hold her head up, only to find she was too exhausted to move. She wondered how long he had been doing this to her, over and over to see no results good enough to stop "Also, I'd appreciate if you'd give me that memory back of me stabbing you; I'd really love to relive that one right now."

"How is it that someone so fragile and untrained can still keep their mind after this much pain," he said, swiftly moving to where he was towering over her, helmet inches from her face.

"Pain lets me know I'm alive," she said, smirking as he got in her face. He didn't scare her. No matter how much pain he could cause her, she would not break.

He just wanted to know what made her tick, what got under her skin, where she came from. She was like a new species, something he never knew existed at this point in time. The longer he interrogated, the more he understood her yet was swarmed with questions as well. He put a hand up to her forehead, attempting to force his way into her mind. He wanted to know more.

Her mind went fuzzy, to the point she figured he was trying to search her mind to find whatever he was looking for. She was still strong enough to keep him out, and with a smirk she watched him struggle against her. She felt him recoil in anger when she wouldn't let him into her mind.

"How?!" he screamed, no doubt spitting inside his mask. He was furious. She was a puzzle, begging to be solved right in front of him, but she refused him at every turn.

She lifted her head to see him eye to eye if the mask wasn't hiding his face. "I am a Gray Jedi. I will not bend, nor will I break," she said defiantly, then lowered her head as if that was the last of her energy. She smirked, yet hung her head in defeat when she heard his fist make contact with the wall several times.

The door to the cell opened and he stormed out, leaving her alone, bleeding and broken.

She whimpered in the chair, still in a good amount of pain from whatever he had done to her over the past few hours. She glanced down at her binds holding her to the chair. Her wrists were cut and bruised, no doubt from struggling against them. She closed her eyes, focusing hard on what she wanted to do.

With a loud click, the latches released and she was set free. She slid from the chair and crumpled to the ground, letting out a helpless cry as she hit the floor. That was all she had left in her. She laid on the floor. Everything hurt. Her head was throbbing in pain, her memory from the past few hours a blur and all out of sorts. She laid there it seemed for hours until she grew tired, almost to the point where she could sleep where she was.

She just wanted to go home.

* * *

"Supreme Leader, she is relentless," Kylo said, irritated as he spoke with the projection in front of him. The dark and dusty room was illuminated by it.

"You mean to tell me you are not strong enough?" Snoke said, almost like he was taunting his young apprentice. "Some Gray Jedi may have been taught against mental manipulation, but they always break with enough force."

"She is strong, Supreme Leader, I-"

"Which is why you must bring her to the Dark Side," Snoke interrupted.

"How much closer to death should I beat her for you to see, she won't easily fall! I have done this for hours on end, and she refuses to budge!" Kylo interrupted his master, leaving Snoke speechless. He was right in that aspect.

She was relentless. He had to admire that in her. When she was first brought onto the ship she was practically sadistic. Every time he laid a hand on her, no matter how rough he got with her, she'd laugh and taunt him to do it again and again until he slowly wore her down. Her injuries she sustained in their squabble over the knife she had were just too great to keep up the facade of strength after he was forced to bind her up.

"Then find another way. There is more to her that meets the eye. Find out, and bring her secrets to me," Snoke said, his projection slowly fading from view.


	3. Trustworthy

Emma startled herself awake the next day, the cold metal floor of her cell shocking her back into consciousness. When her mind finally focused, she quickly realized that what had just happened was no dream.

She sat up straight, running her hands through her blood matted hair. Her body still ached from what she endured the day before, but it was nothing compared to what she's experienced in the past. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. She groggily rubbed her eyes, barely able to hold herself up off the ground.

"Comfortable?" the voice of Kylo Ren said from behind her. She jumped, glancing over her shoulder at him with an offended look. She huffed as she readjusted her bloody clothes. He was crouching in the corner of the room closest to the door, and how long he had been there, she had no idea.

"I'm just peachy," she mumbled, not wanting to deal with whatever torture he was going to put her through today. She was strong, and that she was proud of, but he broke her into a thousand pieces the day before with just a twist of his hand. At this point, she would love to put him through exactly what he did with her, but she knew she was far better than that.

"I see you managed to break free of your restraints," he said, pushing the hood back on his little ratty cloak.

"You son of a-" she growled, stumbling to her feet and attempting to lunge at the man in the corner while ignoring the screaming pain in her body, only to have her feet give under her. She hit the ground, and her body erupted like it was on fire.

She whimpered, crumpling up on the floor and pulling her knees to her chest. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but all she knew is that it was by no means minor.

"Shall I get a medic?" Kylo said, standing up and taking a step forward.

She heard his step and tried to get to her feet, grabbing hold of the chair this time and pulling herself up, using it as a crutch as her body ached in pain. "No, I'd much rather bleed out on your pretty metal floor. You should just put me out of my misery," she said sarcastically, grasping onto that chair for dear life, knowing if she fell a second time she probably wouldn't get up so quickly the next time.

"To be brutally honest, the Supreme Leader hasn't decided what he wants to do with you yet," he said, taking a step back in order to keep the girl from hurting herself. "You are far too great of an asset to the First Order to simply kill," he said, pulling his hands behind his back.

She let go of her crutch, not because she wanted to but because she just didn't have it in her to keep fighting the pain. She slowly let herself down to the ground, shaking her head in frustration.

"Is this what you do? Kidnap people and torture them until they join your side?" she asked, tucking her feet underneath her. She rubbed her forehead, knowing she somehow managed to get into this herself. Had she just kept to herself and not tried to show off, she wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Only the ones worthy enough of the dark side," he said, joining her back on the floor, yet keeping his distance and guarding the door.

"I'm not returning to the Dark Side. Ever. Not completely anyways," she said, a smile on her face like this was a joke. She watched as Kylo cocked his head to the side. He was entranced with her now. "I've seen the darkness with my own eyes. I've done things worse than you've ever dreamed of, and yes, while I do terrible things to people, I only punish those who deserve it now, which is an improvement nonetheless," she said.

"And is that why you call yourself the Gray Jedi?" he asked, cocking his head to the other side. "The true middle ground, walking the line between the Light and the Dark; no greater than the crimes you have committed or good deeds you have accomplished? From the looks of your combat skills, you haven't surrounded yourself in the Force in quite some time."

"I don't need speeches, Ren," she snapped, crossing her legs.

He stared blankly at her. His words weren't working on her. Nothing he could say would lead her to trust him, no matter how strongly the two were drawn to each other. Whatever she had done in the past was enough to condemn her to the path of the Gray Jedi, and there was nothing he could say or do to deter her from it.

Without another word spoken, he got up and exited her cell.

That was the last she saw anyone for a long time it seemed. She was left beaten and broken all by herself in solitary. A medic soon showed up to her cell after about a week, tending to her wounds and fixing her up almost good as new. After that, the only people she saw were the Stormtroopers who brought her meals throughout the day. At least at that point she knew they were trying to keep her alive.

For a while, that's how it was. She counted the days by how many people visited. Two meals, and a medic to check on her wounds. That counted as a day for her.

Then it all changed. Suddenly the medic stopped coming. Kylo started bringing her meals far better than the ones the Stormtroopers brought her. At first he would set the food in front of her and leave, but eventually he began waiting until she was finished eating before leaving her be. It bothered her, not in an uncomfortable way but she just wanted to know what was going on in his head to make him think this was the way to get her to side with him.

Soon after his visits started, she realized he was being accommodating. One day she woke up and the chair was gone, and instead in the little back corner of the cell was a cot and pillow. Soon after blankets were brought in, then a clean pair of clothes that were just a little too big. Objects started to appear in her room, things to keep her busy and other small things she could use to practice her control with the Force.

One day she even found her lightsaber tucked away underneath her pillow when she woke up. At that moment, she didn't know what he was up to, but she knew it wasn't good. She didn't attempt an escape, knowing that was most likely what everyone wanted her to do. She stayed put in her homey little cell, waiting for what happened next.

She hadn't known exactly how much time passed, maybe a handful of weeks before her routine changed. She was sitting in her cell in a meditative state with small objects floating off the ground in her concentration when Kylo came through the door, a tray of food in his hand.

Her concentration was broken, and the objects clattered to the floor. She watched with curious eyes as he placed the tray of food on the floor in front of her, and then walked to her little cot in the back and sat down.

She silently grabbed the tray and set it in her lap, grabbing the unknown fruit and taking a bite. After a while of silence, and once she was almost done with her food, he finally spoke after four weeks of silence.

"Who taught you?" he asked, the question almost inaudible.

She paused her eating, staring at him closely as she studied his mask.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she muttered, taking another bite of food.

"That Sith insignia inked into your skin. It's a symbol of something that was extinct far before your time, so enlighten me," he said, clasping his gloved hands together.

She continued to stare at him as she quietly chewed her food. She swallowed and then gave a small chuckle.

"Do you know what I was capable of back when I was involved in the Dark Side?" she asked, which only provoked silence from the man in front of her. "With a flick of my wrist I could make a man's blood boil. With a snap of my fingers, I could cause a spark leading to an entire forest catching fire; I could create a ball of...kinetic energy in my hand that could level a small town with such a giant blast. Who else could have taught me?"

Kylo still remained silent.

"Not every Sith died on the planet the Jedi so graciously gave and then destroyed. At least one got away, and that one was my father, a very long time ago," she said, finally giving away the identity of her former master.

He remained silent as she continued eating her food like she was done talking about it. He tapped his feet on the metal floors, getting impatient with her.

"You aren't a true Gray Jedi, if that is correct. Self proclaimed titles are worthless."

She froze, mid bite into her last little bit of food. She dropped her fork on the tray after she recovered from being surprised at his statement and set her tray on the ground.

He wasn't exactly wrong. Once she recovered from the Dark Side, she became a Gray in order to right her wrongs. She renounced her title shortly after realizing she was no longer needed, among other circumstances that soon lead to her becoming a well known and deadly mercenary, but there was no way for him to know that.

"How did you find out?" she asked, her voice as low as it could get while still being audible.

"The Supreme Leader is wise-"

"Fuck the Supreme Leader, he knows nothing of me! How do you know?" she yelled at him, bringing silence to the pair once again.

"We need you to take up your Sith oath again," he said, giving her a moment to calm down before speaking again, knowing very well the words he spoke were only to get her fired up.

She cackled. "No. I know how your people work, and at the end of your little story, I know how it ends. Now tell me, how do you know," she said, standing to her feet. She was no longer asking for an answer, she was demanding it.

He hesitated before responding. "Tell me of your time in the dark, Emma," he said, looking up to her as she fumed at him. "There is a disturbing reason behind the galaxy's lack of Gray Jedi, now tell me."

She turned away from him, almost annoyed that he wouldn't leave her alone with such invasive questions.

"You took upon an oath you could not keep, did you not-"

"How about you keep your nose out of my business," she muttered. She had blocked those memories from her mind a long time ago, why did she have to remember them now? Not only that, how did he know? She was the only one who was alive who knew what happened to the rest of her clan. How did he find out?

"Is this what your big plan was?" she swirled around on her heels and stalked up to him, getting face to face with his mask. "Try and make me trust you just so I would divulge my deepest, darkest secrets so you can use them to your advantage? I've already told you, I'm not going back, and there is nothing you can do to make me," she ranted, practically spitting on his mask.

He stayed silent, wiping the spit from his mask as he stared up at her.

"Did you kill them?"

She swiftly reached out for her lightsaber, tucked away under her bed. She was going to run. She'd had enough of the disrespect of privacy. Before she was able to pull it with the force, Kylo had it in his grasps. He stood up just as she attempted to freeze him where he stood, but he caught her wrists before she made contact.

The memories were flooding back now. Whatever he said, however he said it, it caused everything to rush her at once. Memories she had locked away after abandoning her oath, her family, everything. Everything was flashing before her eyes, things she never wanted to see again were now playing in her mind like a broken record. She froze, mind spinning out of control.

"There they are," Kylo said, a sense of pride welling in his chest as she saw Emma's eyes tearing up. He broke her walls, and now she was breaking in front of him.

Before he had a chance to try and get into her head, she pushed him away. She quickly got her mind back together before she completely broke down in front of him.

"Listen to me, I will kill you. You don't want to do this," she said, backing up across the room with her hand held out. She was ready to push him against the wall and make a run for it if she had to.

"Of course I do," he said, following her slowly.

"Why do you suddenly want all these memories from me? And why me?" she said, frantically backing up. "You don't need me, so what's the point?"

He paused. She was right. There was no real need for her. Snoke was greedy, and wanted whatever he could get his hands on, and if another Force user was what he wanted, he'd get it. All the Supreme Leader wanted to do was corrupt her like he did to him.

He was...conflicted for the first time in a long while. Snoke would destroy her trying to bring her to the Dark Side, even though he knew very well how much her knowledge was worth. Whatever she was hiding was enough to send her not to the Light after her troubles, but to a path that led to the loneliest of lives. Snoke would snap her in half, not because she was weak but because he didn't care. He couldn't just hand her over, this woman who had the potential change the galaxy if she wanted to. He hadn't yet seen her past, but there was a very good reason why she was the last of her kind on that little planet.

"There is a sentiment behind finding someone else like me, especially someone who has touched the Dark Side and come out the other side unharmed."

She watched him through narrow eyes. His entire demeanor changed. He wasn't trying to intimidate her anymore. Though she couldn't tell behind the helmet, it was almost like he was attempting to...connect or reach out to her. They both had intense relationships with the Dark Side, and even though she attempted to hide it, her endeavors as a Gray Jedi and then a mercenary still weren't enough to severe herself completely from the dark.

"You're lying," she said, jerking herself back into common sense.

"Am I? How else can I gain your trust?" Kylo said, removing his cloak from his head.

She studied his body language since his face wasn't visible, still unable to get a firm read off of him. "Take off your mask," she said defiantly, dropping her guard. Kylo cocked his head to the side, taken off guard by her request. "No, seriously, if you want to know what I have hiding in graves, I want to see your face," she said, furrowing her brows.

She stayed silent and watched as his hands went up and held the base of his helmet after along period of hesitation. His mask clicked, and with a hiss he pulled it off his head and held it loosely in his fingers before it fell to the floor with a loud thunk. She kept her jaw locked shut as she studied the man in front of her, who was far different than she imagined him to be. She pictured him to be a monster, disfigured and broken like Vader had been and yet here he was, human in every way; what stuck out to her most was a soft face like he was too young to be surrounded in such a horrible regime.

She searched his face for any sort of tell. What she found was more disturbing, and his eyes gave everything away. He was surrounded by more Light than the Dark Side. His eyes glowed, which wasn't normal for someone who surrounded themselves with death and destruction. Deep down, he was just as good as he was evil. She understood him on a much deeper level, all due to those dark brown eyes.

He was manipulating her, trying to get her in the palm of his hand to do with as he wished once he gained her trust. It was like it was staring her in the face. However, something deep inside her, like a little nagging voice in the pit of her stomach, through all the torture he put her through she knew that there was something she wasn't seeing. She didn't know if this was her Force abilities pulling her down a path she needed to be on, but the more she dwelled on it, the more she was compelled to go along with what she was presented.

Though her mind screamed at her, told her to turn around and run as fast as she could away from these people, she couldn't. There were disturbances in the Force all around the universe, she could always feel that much. He, no matter how much darkness he surrounded himself in, was not apart of those little ripples causing tidal waves.

There was a bigger person at play, and she was willing to bet this 'Supreme Leader' was the one pulling the strings.

"Well look at that. Two monsters with perfect faces," she muttered, staring him straight in the eye.

That statement hit him harder than it should, and he broke eye contact with a sharp exhale.

She sighed and looked around the room pointlessly as she snapped herself out of her own thoughts, wondering if she was going to regret this. She was playing into his hand, doing exactly what he wanted. "You actually want to know what happened on Ahk'Tabah?" she asked, knowing that's what he was after all along.

"No, I want to know what happened to you on Ahk'Tabah," he corrected. He noted the change in her attitude. She was no longer hiding behind a smart mouth and devilish words.

"Why me? There was a full on war that extended far beyond me, why do you want to know what I had a part in?"

"Because while someone else may have started the war, you were the one who ended it," he said. "In the end, the strongest survive, do they not?"

She nodded, knowing in some way that he was right. The entire planet was brought to peace because of her, and if that didn't make her any more important in the scheme of things, then this was her start.

"I don't want to tell you-"

"Then this conversation is over," Ren said, bending down for his helmet.

"How about I show you instead, then," she said quickly before they both changed their minds.

He paused, staring at her through narrowed eyes as she then outstretched her hand to him. He hated touching people. With a groan, he rolled his eyes and put out his hand as well, reluctantly letting her take his hand. This wasn't what he had in mind when he tried to signal a truce.

She approached him and took his hand, motioning for him to sit on the ground with her. They sat side by side, both facing the opposite direction with their legs both crossed.

"Why am I doing this," she muttered under her breath as she shook her head, knowing this was about to rehash a lot of old wounds.

He didn't answer her. He knew if he opened his mouth and said something to reassure her in what she was doing, it was only going to backfire. He took off his glove, and then held his hand out, waiting for her to take it.

"Whenever you're ready," he said, refusing to look her in the eye. He felt her grab his hand, which he forced himself to resist pulling away from her, and then their minds were sucked into whatever she had hiding in her mind.


	4. Scars

_He could practically feel rain pelting his face, and darkness kept his vision clouded. In the distance he could hear them, lightsabers clashing and sizzling in the rain. He turned his head, seeing white and red beams of light, fighting against each other in a heated combat. He saw two red blades, and one white one, both gleaming in the pouring rain._

_He walked towards them, expecting to see Emma wielding the white one._

_He was wrong._

_Two haunting red sabers were clutched in her hands and she expertly wielded with them, using the Force to wield the blades in ways he never knew was even possible paired with stunning acrobatics to go with it. Her normally messy blonde hair was up in a more interesting style; three rows of small braids were tightly held against her scalp on one side of her head, and the other side was left loose. She dawned a long black coat with billowing tails, all getting soaked and muddy in the pouring rain._

_The woman she was fighting wielded the white saber, and she was far different from Emma. Ragged clothes and leather shoes was all she wore, and her hair was soaked and pressed against her face. She looked older, wiser even, however her moves in combat were lacking._

_Their sabers locked, the red and white cast an eerie glow on the forest around them._

" _You can't let your father do this! You can't let him control you like this anymore!" the woman said, pressing firmly against Emma's saber._

" _He isn't my father anymore, he is my master!"_

_Kylo watched in awe as the two woman forcefully threw each other out of the saber lock, causing them both to stumble backwards. One of Emma's red sabers was sent flying into the forest behind the other woman, well out of her reach. Emma was the first to recover, slashing diagonally across the woman's back. The cut was sloppy, and didn't leave something close to what true masters of the lightsaber could do. A deep gash was all she caused._

_The woman screamed and without hesitation, swirled around and began to attack her. They once again formed a saber lock._

" _Emma, please listen to me!"_

" _You aren't my mother! You weren't ever there for me, and he was! That makes you the enemy!"_

_He watched as a hand left Emma's hilt, and with a quick gesture of her hand, the woman's foot faltered and she hit the mud. The woman quickly put her lightsaber up to block the strike Emma tried to make while she was vulnerable. She was barely able to keep her own white blade away from her shoulder while under the weight of her own daughter._

" _Have you realized what you've done!" the woman screamed over the pouring rain, her voice barely audible over the loud roar of the rain and sizzling and cracking of their two lightsabers locked together. "Once you do this, you can't turn back!"_

" _It's for the best-"_

" _What, killing your own mother is for the best?"_

_He watched as Emma's face softened. Her angry sneer fell off her face almost instantly, and her grip on her saber loosened. She was faltering._

" _Emma, you were so young when you went to him, now look at you! It's you two versus the rest of your family in a pointless war, is this what you wanted to cause?"_

" _I didn't go to him, he took me! You abandoned me and he took me in like a true father, what does that make you?!"_

" _I didn't abandon you, my love, I gave you up!" her mother screamed, just trying to reason with her. "I gave you up so that I could save our family! Your brother, your little sister, they're both gone because of your father!"_

_He could see tears streaming down Emma's face mixing with the rain hitting her cheeks. Her mother's words were getting to her, and eventually he knew what would happen._

_She remained silent, searching her mother's eyes frantically as if she was waking up from a trance. She didn't know what to do. The Dark Side was all she knew. She couldn't just falter at the first time of trouble._

" _I can't...I can't do this!" Emma screamed, locking eyes with her mother and seeing the sorrow buried deep in them._

_Her mother forced her lightsaber away, causing Emma to stumble forward and lose her balance a little. Her mother then retracted her saber's blade and threw the hilt away._

" _Make your decision Emma! It's either me, or him!" she threw out her arms and laid back in the mud, planning on being the martyr. "I can save you! I can bring you back, but if you do this, you won't be able to come back from that-"_

" _You can't defeat him! No one can, he's far too powerful!"_

" _You can!"_

_Emma screamed, almost like she was being ripped in half. Here her enemy stood, already caring more about her than her master ever could, not to mention this was her own blood staring back at her. She was loyal to her father, but he was such a cruel and harsh man who was never happy with anything she did for him. But he was her master, and she had to obey him._

_Kylo watched like an omnipotent force, frozen to where he stood as the red blade of her saber pierced through the woman's chest without another second of hesitation. She actually went through with it..._

_A moment of silence pierced the air before she processed what she did. The young Emma withdrew her blade and screamed, arms outstretched as the rain streamed down her face and most likely hid her tears. She dropped her saber, it hissing as it hit the wet ground and she fell to her knees, sobbing and crying loudly._

_The sobs racked her body as she practically threw a tantrum, thrashing about and grabbing her lightsaber just to slice down the smaller trees near her. She was angry, hurt, confused, and most of all in the most emotional pain she had ever experienced since she surrounded herself in darkness._

_Her mother was gone. The darkness was so deep in her heart, she couldn't see the love her mother still had for her even though she was traveling the wrong path._

_Kylo tried to pull out of Emma's mind, but he couldn't. This memory wasn't over yet. He watched, almost somber now as Emma screamed and kicked, her words incomprehensible. She was covered in mud, not really caring about it either as she struggled to regain her mind. Apparently she heard something he didn't, because she swirled around and held her lightsaber out pointing at nothing but thin air._

" _Face me!" she screamed, face contorting as she tried to hold back the rest of the tears._

_A red beam of light erupted from the dark forest in front of her, and others followed. A figure cloaked in heavy robes emerged from the shadows, a posse of others right on his heels. They silently circled her, quickly entering a formation that kept her trapped between four other lightsabers, not counting her fathers._

" _You've made me proud, Emma," a growled voice spoke from underneath the hood. The man was tall, looming over his own daughter like she was prey as he began circling around her. She stayed put, keeping her blade in front of her for her own protection._

" _Don't!" she screamed at him, flinching as she resisted the urge to attack him. "I know for a fact you don't need me anymore," she said, refusing to look him in the eye. "I've completed my mission, my only mission I've had for years. I know you don't need me anymore."_

_She was afraid of him, and not just because it was her father. From where Ren was watching this play out, he could see in her eyes that she was so broken on the inside that she respected him out of fear for her own life. He'd done so much to her; beaten her, broken her down, convinced her she was nothing and tore her away from the people who cared most about her._

" _Correct. You took out our final major opposition in killing the leader of the Gray Jedi clan, and my men have already wiped out the remaining opposition on the planet-"_

" _You mean you've killed your own wife!"_

_The man's demeanor turned like a flip of a switch. He went from being intimidating for the sake of scaring his own blood to furious, all within seconds._

" _She is not my wife!" The man's voice bellowed in the rain, well heard above the light roar of rain hitting the ground. "She is a traitor, and a murderer!"_

_Silence fell, only broken by the rain hitting the ground. As Kylo studied the young woman's face, he could practically see the gears turning in her head._

" _Well," Emma started speaking softly. She was going to regret this. Either she was about to die, or this was the end of the line. "I guess it runs in the family."_

_Before anyone had a chance to react, she clashed her saber against the one that was pointed at her chest, quickly getting herself out of the death circle she was surrounded in. She fought hard against the other four Sith in front of her, all hungry for blood._

" _You can't win, Emma!" Her father screamed, pulling out his own lightsaber and turning it on._

_She force pushed one of his apprentices into his blade with a quick arm movement, knowing he couldn't care less about anything other than killing his own daughter. With a scream, her own father cut down his own man, a clean cut severing the man in half._

_She turned around and she ran, making her way through the forest and trying to break up the mob coming after her. Her heart was pounding, and her life was reliant on this moment, right here._

_She turned around and with a quick jab, protected herself from an attack from the one who managed to keep up with her. They traded blows, one after the other before she realized they were evenly matched._

_She sidestepped a move, throwing the man off balance and with a clean spin, she killed the man with one well landed blow._

_Her father was next. What happened to the others, she didn't want to find out. She turned to head back to where she started from, only to see the red blade of her father's saber pointed at her nose._

" _Surrender your lightsaber, or die like your mother," he growled, moving his blade closer to Emma's neck._

" _Never!" she screamed, knocking the blade away from her throat with her own. Her father put up a hand, and force threw her into a thick tree before she could fight back anymore._

_Her lightsaber flew out of her hand when she hit the tree, her back snapping against the trunk hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She hit the ground, falling to her knees as she began coughing, trying to regain enough air to function. She scrambled in the mud for her lightsaber, unable to find it as her father came closer to her with his blade pointed right at her head._

_She reached out her hand, using the force to try and call one of her blades to her._

_He got closer, and seconds passed where nothing come to her. She was left defenseless and weak, with nothing to help her get out of what was surely death for her._

_Something hit her hand just as her father was about to bring his blade down to her, and with a quick press of a button, she was able to block his attack without so much as a scratch._

_But her blade was white. This wasn't her lightsaber that came to her, it was her mothers._

" _Is this how it ends? My own blood destroying everything I've worked for and renouncing her faith in the dark side for her own MOTHER?" He screamed at her, starting to circle her. He pushed her once again into a tree, harder this time to where she almost couldn't get up._

_Still, she stumbled to her feet, pulling the lightsaber back into her hand as she stood. Before she even had a chance to turn it on, it was pulled from her grasps by her father. He walked up to her so quickly she didn't have time to try and deflect a nasty punch from landing on her jaw. She landed face first into the dirt and mud, and scrambled to her feet and ran before she fully had a chance to recover. He was out to kill her, and at this rate, he was winning._

_She was suddenly frozen to the spot, her body too heavy to move. There was an intense pressure forcing her to stay where she was, and no matter how hard she fought, she couldn't break through._

_The sound of a lightsaber's blade roaring to life was right behind her, and she knew she was dead._

_Her mother was wrong to put her faith in her. She couldn't even keep herself alive long enough to do any damage to him._

" _Your mother would be so disappointed in you," he said, twirling the red blade around in his hands. He was playing with her now, drawing out her impending doom. He shoved the blade through her shoulder, enjoying the moment as she let out a blood curling scream. "Look at you, so weak as you've always been. And to believe I was once proud of you," he said, withdrawing his blade and then twirling it in front of her face._

_He shoved the blade into her stomach, making her keel under the pressure. She couldn't scream this time, she only hung her mouth open as the pain shot through her body like knives. She fell to the ground when he released her, clutching her stomach._

_Her father circled her again, deciding how best to kill her. Kylo watched silently as she glanced up, almost like she was praying to the gods for one last hope, staring straight into his eyes like he was actually there. He stared back into her helpless eyes, forcing himself to realize this was only a memory, and no matter how much he wished he could reach out, he couldn't._

_The pain, the sorrow, the hopelessness that stared back at him was going to haunt him forever._

_Suddenly her pale blue eyes changed. With a piercing scream, they started glowing white like she was being possessed, just as her father brought his blade down upon her._

_Instead of going through her, it bounced off her back like it couldn't pierce her. It was like an explosion went off when the saber bounced off her, causing a wave of energy to erupt from her like something was protecting her. The ground trembled under their feet, the sound of what seemed to be an earthquake roaring louder than the rain._

_She then miraculously stood, eyes glowing whiter than the sun. She turned to face her father like her wounds were no more. The pain in her eyes was gone, as well as everything else that really made her human._

" _I am the Gray Jedi. I am here to protect the Force with all my power." When she spoke, her voice was distorted and echoed through the trees. She walked towards him, hand held out and causing her father to lift from the ground. "You have brought a grave imbalance, and you shall be punished for it."_

_His face began to turn purple as she choked the life out of him. She held out her other hand, and the four lightsabers she touched that night came flying out of the trees, blades all pointing towards the struggling man she held captive. One after another, they pierced him and went all the way through and then stuck in the ground, the last one going straight through his forehead._

_When she finally let her father go, he collapsed on the ground dead. Emma soon followed, the white glow in her eyes slowly fading away as she hit the ground._

_It was over. The war was finally over._

Kylo's hand retracted from hers with a jolt, the memory playing in both of their heads finally over. He stared blankly, shocked at what he just witnessed with his own eyes.

So that was why Snoke wanted her. She was protected, by what he couldn't say for certain. Not only that, but she had fallen completely to the Dark Side and still managed to release herself from it's clutches by sheer will.

He glanced up, his eyes catching her bright blue ones and he was at a loss for words. How, how could she be so powerful to the point that only at the point of near death, she was able to protect herself from a critical blow? There were so many more questions, but this one was far more important than the rest.

He knew there was more to it than that, but he remained silent as he stood up and moved to walk out of the room. He stooped down to grab his helmet as he went.

"Really? I just showed you what you wanted, and now you're going to leave me in here?" she said, standing up and going after him.

He stopped, only for a moment as he attempted to find words. Failing, he walked out of the room, letting the door slam shut behind him.


	5. The Supreme Leader Speaks

He put his helmet on once he got to the main hallway, stalking towards the room he would talk to Snoke in. As he walked, he realized this was far beyond his reach, especially in his knowledge in the Force.

He stepped into the dusty room, loudly shutting the door behind him.

"Supreme Leader, I-"

The image of Snoke slowly appeared, almost like he was awaking from sleep. "I know, I could feel it," he said, interrupting Kylo with a wave of his hand.

"I've found what you asked me to get," he said, referring to the girl's memories. "She...there is something about her that words are not capable of describing," he said while bowing his head in respect for the Supreme Leader.

"And I can do nothing with her," Snoke replied, disinterested. "You've gained her trust, only to find out she is useless, unable to return to the Dark Side as easily as we hoped. Even if we were to succeed in tempting her back, she is far more powerful with the abilities of the Gray Jedi. She would have the capabilities to use both the Dark and the Light if she so chose, which unfortunately is of no use to us seeing as though I have you already. You can kill her, or send her back to her desolate planet, I care not what you do," he said with a wave of his bony hand.

"She can still help us. Her vows as a Gray Jedi are to bring balance to the Force, which means killing the remaining Jedi might be an extreme, however if I can get her to agreed to help in the arrangements regarding Luke Skywalker-"

"If she takes this vow, once she finishes off the remaining Jedi, she will then turn her blade onto you, and then to me. Her vows are to protect the balance of the Force at all cost, and if killing the Jedi is one extreme, the other is turning her blade to us after she succeeds. She is far too dangerous."

"Then we can use her mercenary skills then. She would be a useful ally, one you would be foolish to pass up-"

"I advise you to hold your tongue, Ren," Snoke interrupted, the man's pleas with him wearing on his nerves. "You have yet to see her true skills, and yet you put so much faith in her; why is that?"

Kylo was silenced. He knew she would make things easier, especially if she worked in the background of their operation. No one had to know why she was here, or her mission, but it would make it so much easier on him. He could focus more on his training with her around to deal with things in the background, not to mention she was starting to reveal that she was like him in many ways which only fed into his curiosity about her. It may even do him good to keep her around.

"You feel you are alone, which is why you wish to keep the girl," Snoke's bellowing voice echoed across the room.

"Supreme Leader-"

"Silence! I can feel it, deep within you. You believe yourself to be the last of your kind, and now you have become fascinated with the thought of another. She is in fact, like you, both touched by darkness and the light equally so, and both you and I can feel it."

Kylo retracted, backing up as Snoke seemingly took the words right from his head. He was right. For so long, the Force was whatever he thought it to be and whatever he was taught. When Emma showed up and challenged him to a fight, he realized that what he was taught was far different than what she wielded, and how she controlled it was far beyond his understanding. How someone could be so dark, yet so bathed in light in their life baffled him.

"Whatever you want to do with the girl is your own decision to make. Keep her if you see that she may do you good, but make sure to cover your tracks should you abandon her back to her home planet. Our enemies would be difficult to defeat with her at their disposal," Snoke said before fading out of the room."I should have allowed you to kill her the first time. I shall not be making that mistake again."

Kylo stood there in shock, almost wondering what the Supreme Leader was even thinking.

* * *

Emma sat in her cell, tears rolling down her face as she let out the years upon years of repressed anger and emotion. The memory of killing her mom and almost being killed by her dad was something she repressed immediately once it happened, knowing that it would just eat her up on the inside.

And that was exactly what it was doing. It was chewing her up and spitting her out. The regret, the pain, she could practically feel where her wounds were such a long time ago, all of it was destroying her on the inside.

The door slid open with a loud bang and she jumped, looking up to see a Stormtrooper walking through the door. She rose to her feet.

"Come with me," the Stormtrooper said, clutching a blaster to his chest. She eyed him carefully, not really trusting how Kylo suddenly left her to her own and then sent someone else to dispose of her. She walked out of the cell, the Stormtrooper grabbing her arm and leading her down the hall. They met up with a small group of troopers, who then led her down a series of hallways in a circle formation around her.

They reached the landing bay of the Star Destroyer, and she didn't react very well to all the ships and the gaping hatch leading to deep space. She stumbled backwards, everything new to her in so many ways. She didn't have enough time to take everything in in awe before she was pushed forward by a trooper, making her keep her position in the formation as they taxied her to a ship.

She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she was no longer welcome here if they were going to drop her on some nearby planet.

One trooper followed her onto the ship, and then they closed the hatch and sent her off.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, more like demanded as the ship took off and plunged into space.

The trooper looked at her, almost like he was shocked she spoke to him. "Back to Ahk'Tabah," he answered, almost unsure that he should have replied at all.

"Why? And under who's orders?" she continued to press him.

"Kylo Ren's orders."

She didn't need to know anything else after that.

She was dropped off back on her home planet, and as soon as her feet touched the iced ground, the ship took back off.

She seemed to walk for hours before she got into familiar territory, and from there she found her way back to her little village. From a distance she could tell it was bad. The closer she got, the more she saw that her own little hut was the only thing left completely untouched, and her two swords she once taunted Kylo with still stuck straight up in the ground.

What she saw was horrific, to the point it almost brought her to tears. Her mouth hung open and a hand covered it as she waded through the torched rubble of houses and small farms, eyes tearing up but never letting the dams loose. Only a few houses and the town's bar was left standing, but everything else was burned to the ground. Snow was clinging to the ashes of the town, and as her feet crunched in the snow, she couldn't help but cry. This was the home of people who truly cared, and now they were gone.

She sat down in the middle of the town, burying her head in her hands as she let the tears fall. These people were her friends, some of them even took her in as family after all the horrid things she'd done to them all back when she was Sith. There was even a Force Sensitive boy, who looked up to her even after killing his parents and truly believed in her ability to 'be good' after she came back from the war.

She eyed the small symbol on her wrist, almost disgusted it still existed in the first place. She got it when she was fairly young, as did all the other apprentices her dad took in at the time. It was to show loyalty, and now it was the symbol of her damnation. This was her fault. All of it was her fault. She let out a scream, tears pouring down her face now as she dug her fingers in the snow.

She had to fix this. She had to make this right. She didn't know how, but she knew she couldn't sit around and mourn for the rest of her life.

She stood up swiftly and snatched her two blades from the snow and hitched them to her belt, almost sliding in the ice and snow as she stalked off, heading for a heavily wooded area not far from the town. The farther she walked, the more determined she got.

She reached what looked to be a safe house in the middle of the woods, made from steel and metal and oddly out of place. She put her hand out, sliding the door open without touching it and stalking inside. She paused at the doorway, peering inside as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Her old jacket with the long coat tails was hung up in the center of the room, now gray with age. A small rack with a pair lightsabers and an array of hunting knives hung on it was at the other side of the room. They were her old lightsabers, the ones she wielded long before one of the blades pierced her mother's heart. The blackened hilts and copper components were still shining, practically as pristine as the day she built them. She walked over to them and unhooked one from its stand, spinning it the right way in her hand and pressing the button. The blade illuminated the room in red, and the beam was as steady as if it had been used regularly.

She exhaled, not really wanting to take a relic with such a dark past, but Kylo took the one she wielded now before he left her alone. She figured it was most likely to leave her disarmed so that the next time he wished to pick her off the planet for his own selfish need, it would be far easier to subdue her.

She breathed deeply, gathering her emotions together before they got the best of her again. She grabbed her old outfit, boots, pants and all, and headed back to her burned town, her two old sabers clutched close to her chest.

She would be wanted now. If one of the traveling merchants came along and saw a town burnt to a crisp except the home of the former Sith student, word would travel quickly. She was forced to be a renegade.

As the sun began to set, she reached the middle of the town and headed for the bar, which while it still stood, was still falling apart. If the wind picked up too quickly, surely it would fall. She stepped inside, finding most of the bar to be intact though still heavily scorched. She hopped behind the counter, putting her old coat, breeches and boots down on the charred wood and grabbing the only bottle of liquor that made it through the fire. She grabbed a chipped glass and filled it, slamming the alcohol down and fighting the intense burning in her chest as she poured another glass.

At least for the night, she could drown her sorrows before she became the outcast.

For the first hour she was there, the planet was quiet. Not another ship came into orbit, not a single person traveled to her little town. She downed another glass, not feeling the effects of the first one quick enough to satisfy her. As she poured herself another glass and laid down on the burnt floor, she heard the sound of a ship passing over. It was quite different than the ones that graced her ears the night Kylo showed up and destroyed her home, let alone the one that dropped her off a few hours ago.

The ship sped on, not even noticing the speck of dust that was her town.

Meanwhile aboard the Star Destroyer, Kylo stood in the control room with hands clasped behind his back. He decided it was best for the First Order to let the girl go. It would bring too much unwanted attention should people find out that they took in another Force user, let alone a controversial Gray Jedi who was a wild card and surely impossible to control. He had to put aside his own desire to learn everything she knew for the sake of the First Order, but it was still eating away at him. She knew ancient teachings, things that had been lost for a long time, and he yearned to seek her knowledge.

Systems beeped, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Unauthorized ships just broke from light speed. Six of them, to be exact," one of his navigators said from the back of the room, breaking the silence among his men.

He perked his head up. No one knew they were here aside from the Supreme Leader, and they had done well to cover their tracks up to this point.

Another alarm sounded, and as it did so the ship rocked as it was hit with covering fire.

"Resistance," he growled. How could he be so stupid He left the girl alone on a desolate planet for anyone who knew of her existence to pluck her from where she stood. How they found her, he didn't know. The Supreme Leader was right. If they managed to acquire her and convince her to fight for their side, this war was going to get far more difficult than he imagined. The things they could do with her knowledge would be unfathomable.

His hand flew out, reaching for his saber. He pressed the button, the blade erupted, and he brought it down upon the console in front of him. He turned on the balls of his feet, watching as his men cowered in front of him.

"Ready my ship," he said, stalking out the door and hanging a right to head towards the hangar bay.


	6. The Return

She swirled her glass in her hand for awhile, giving herself time to let the alcohol hit her blood before taking another drink. She sat up after hearing another ship, finding it odd now that there was suddenly an interest in the little planet. She took a sip of the alien whatever it was she was drinking, she couldn't tell by the scorched label on the front, but whatever it was it was clear enough to see straight through the bottle. She set the glass down on the floor beside her as the sound of the ship faded. She ran her hand through her hair, and tediously started to re-braid it like she had in old times. Three rows of braids on one side of her head, the rest left loose for her to tie it all together whenever she got the chance. She was glad she had no access to a mirror. She'd hate to see how awful she looked with ratty hair.

Another ship passed over, this time stopping and possibly landing before taking off again. She exhaled, knowing fully well that they were looking for her now.

She got up, stumbling slightly from the booze in her system as she slammed the drink and then went over to her old coat, boots and breeches. She shed the ratty clothes the First Order had given her in her cell, throwing them to the ground and kicking them across the room. They were far too big and falling off her shoulders anyways, so she figured she might as well get back into familiar garb. She barely squeezed herself into pants she hadn't worn in years, and then hauled the coat over her shoulders.

She paused, feeling an aura that was familiar to her. The evil that surrounded this person was undeniable. She could feel his aura in his footsteps getting closer and closer to her little hiding spot, and she knew he was hunting her.

She turned her back to the door, hooking the zipper to her coat together at her waist and pulling it up, only making it about half way up before it started to get tight. She struggled, pulling so hard it left an imprint in her fingers.

She could feel eyes staring into her back, baring into her as she stood in the center of the room and she froze.

"Apparently I've gained weight in the past eight years," she snarked, not even having to turn around to know who stood watch. She still struggled, just trying to get the zipper up far enough over her breasts to not be indecent. She squeezed, caved her chest in and tried again, the zipper finally going all the way up to her neck. At least it made her stand with a straightened back, but it was a tight fit.

"Alternatively, the look suits you," Kylo Ren spoke through the voice manipulator in his helmet. "Tell me, is it always your first instinct to drink yourself away at the first sign of trouble in your life, or is this a one time ordeal?"

She rolled her eyes the moment his mouth opened and sassed her back. "What else are you supposed to do when you come home and find an entire village dead. How did you find me anyways?" she asked, adjusting herself and straightening herself out as she ran her hands through her hair. "I've been hearing ships since I got here and none of them could find me, so what makes you so special?" she muttered.

"I figure the effects are temporary, but due to the link we made when I looked into your past, I can feel everything you do," he said, almost like he was trying to put it lightly. "Emotions mostly, however it allowed me to find you relatively easily."

She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand the depths of what he said. "That's disturbing," she said, looking over her shoulder as she gave him a confused look.

"Like I said, the effects should be temporary," he said, the growl of his voice manipulator making him sound emotionless.

"So did you come to see the look in my eyes once I saw the destruction of my town?" she said, straightening things out before turning around on her heels, almost losing her balance as her bare feet slid across the wood. Her coat tails flapped at her ankles, breaking the silence in the room. The only answer he made was cocking his head to the side. "What, you mean to tell me dropping me back here wasn't apart of some giant plot to get me to side with you?"

"Originally, we were going to abandon you here, leave you to be dealt with by your own people. However, Resistance ships broke orbit not long ago. They discovered your location, and wish to capture you for their own usage, and the First Order cannot afford to have you on the opposite side," he said.

She tried to follow what he was saying, but the way he used his words to dance around the subject was too much for her tipsy mind. She waved a hand, closing her eyes as she tried to get him to stop talking.

"You know, every time you put that helmet on, you talk with big words, stringing them out like poetry. You hold your chin up, hell, you swagger into a room like you own everything," she said, grabbing the bottle off the ground and loosely holding it by the neck. She pointed at him, the liquid in the bottle sloshing around. "Yet when you take that helmet off, you ooze of the Light. You aren't strong enough to fall completely to the Darkness," she said, taking another swig and wincing as it burned her throat.

Underneath his helmet, he was losing his patience. This was a serious matter and the girl decided to drink herself to oblivion under stress? And then she had the audacity to start psychoanalyzing him like she knew who he was.

"Silence-"

"No! I see a scared little boy, cowering under his master's will and doing as he's told because he's afraid of consequences." She swaggered over to him, knowing it was only getting under his skin.

"Do not speak again-" he growled under his mask. He knew she was right, somewhere deep down, but he also knew she only spoke from experience.

"What, have I angered you?"

"I don't have time for this," he growled, ignoring her attempts to get under his skin. "The Resistance is searching for you, and if I fail to get you off this planet, I cannot promise you will still have your life at the end of this fight." His voice was urgent, almost getting worried at how she refused to listen to him.

"Again with the nonsense. Will you take off that damn mask so I can speak to you as a person and not a robot, please?" she interrupted, not interested in anything he had to say while under his facade. The liquor in the bottle she held sloshed around again, and she took another drink as she went to grab for her shoes, stumbling slightly as she did so.

He stared at her for a moment. The only reason he took off his helmet for her in the first place was not to speak to her on a more intimate level like she was more or less requesting of him now. His brow furrowed under his mask, but the sound of a passing fleet of ships made the situation far more urgent. He didn't have time to protest at this point. He needed her to come with him, and fast if they were going to leave without a fight.

He clicked his helmet's release switch and pulled it over his head, shaking the hair out of his face as he went to put it on the bar top.

She shoved her foot into one of the knee high combat boots as Kylo turned his back to her, she aggressively buckling them tight to her leg. She wobbled, but caught her balance as she reached for her other boot.

Kylo didn't say anything. He kept his arms crossed and didn't so much as look at her. She was going to get them both killed if she kept things up.

"Why did you come back?" she said, breaking the silence as the sound of the passing ships faded.

"I came back to get you. Either you can come with the First Order, or be discretely relocated to a different planet where you will be left alone. The Resistance will not find you, nor will the First Order disturb you once we drop you off."

She shook her head as he spoke. Both sides of this little deal were far from what she wanted. If she was dropped off on another planet, she could start fresh; but if the locals weren't fond of her kind, she would be yet again forced to live in solitude for the rest of her life there unless she decided to travel well outside the protection he promised. On the opposite side, she didn't wish to remain in a cell until the First Order either fell of accomplished what they set out to do.

"Normally prisoners aren't given a choice as to how they wish to live in solitude," she said, her eyes staring into nothing. "You were given the opportunity to make a decision and you couldn't do it, so now here you are making me do it for you." She spoke as if she was rambling, not really controlling the words that came out of her mouth.

"The Supreme Leader has no use of you, nor does he seem to want you around. It came down to personally, you may be of use in terms of your knowledge in the Force, however you are worthless to the First Order as a Gray Jedi," he said, watching her eyes darting across the room like they were searching through her mind for some sort of explanation.

She held in a chuckle, emitting a strange noise from her nose. "Good to know the person pulling your strings thinks I'm worthless," she said, finally snapping herself from her trance.

"I need an answer," he said, ignoring her snide comment even though he knew her value was exponentially greater than most of the people he came across while in his line of work.

"Tell me what you want, Kylo," she said, shrugging her shoulders. The look of confusion brought to his face made her put up a finger. "Separate yourself from your master. He isn't here right now to give you guidance. He gave you the opportunity to make a decision, so make it. Don't give yourself the easy way out. It's just you and me here," she said, moving to the bar and spinning the hilt of her saber as she watched the gears turning in his head. "This so called Supreme Leader, he's your master right? He gave you this in order to watch you make the wrong decision."

"The Supreme Leader-"

"I don't care about what this Supreme Leader told you, or what he wants you to do. What do _you_ want to do?" she cut him off, which only made him snap his jaw shut before he snapped at her. "Not the Supreme Leader, not the First Order. You. If you keep being his servant and doing everything he says, you aren't going to live very long, and should that day come that your so called 'master' decides you aren't valuable to him anymore, you best hope I'm on your side that day to save your ass."

"Are you openly admitting I should deliberately disobey the Supreme Leader?"

"I'm a bad influence, if you haven't noticed. Either these Resistance people will get to me, or the First Order will. I have places to go, people to see, people to murder, and I can't exactly do it here on this decrepit planet, nor can I do that if I am forced to side with the good guys, now can I? So do you want me to come with you or not?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it as soon as it felt like the Force was alerting him to someone else unknown. His head turned, listening closely and focusing in on the life forms heading towards the little shack. She started to speak again, but before she completed a word, he put up a hand to indicate her to hush.

Light filtered in from the cracks in the ceiling, the two moons overhead illuminating the little room in an odd blue glow. The quiet that settled gave away footsteps in the distance, and it was more than he felt comfortable with.

Emma narrowed her eyes, squinting as if she was trying to concentrate on who was approaching. It was like a light went off in her head, and her tense body relaxed. She reached for her two lightsabers and clicked them to her belt.

"Get ready for a fight," she said after picking up her swords and sheathing them on her back. She picked up his helmet as she walked towards the door and thrust it into his chest before walking out the doorway.


	7. Run

Had she not been utterly drunk, he would have let her deal with things on her own, however he was still surprised she was able to walk straight in her boots. He put his helmet on his head, rolling his eyes as he did so, and then followed her out of the little shack while throwing his cowl up over his head.

As his feet crunched in the snow, he looked up to see maybe a dozen men, all heavily armed far beyond the normal commoner would be. With a wary eye, he stood behind Emma, hand on his lightsaber in case they raised any trouble. Oh if only she hadn't drank half a bottle of whatever it was, maybe she could handle it on her own.

"Hello boys," Emma said, withdrawing a sword and pointing it at them before sticking the blade into the snow. Kylo hung his head, letting out an audible groan. She was going to get herself killed.

The leader of the little pack spoke in a tongue he hadn't heard of, and he watched as she spoke back in the same language. They went back and forth, angrily getting louder and louder with each exchange of words.

"Oi! I know you speak the common tongue, if you're going to talk about him in front of his face, at least say it so he can hear you," she said, throwing out an arm. She could feel anger radiating off of him from the few feet he stood away from her.

"Don't you twist my words, you filthy rat!" their leader screamed over the distance between them.

"What did he say?" Kylo muttered under his breath, only to be shushed by Emma with the wave of her hand. He was getting rather impatient. There were still Resistance ships scouring the planet for them both and this was no time to be out in the open picking a fight with thugs.

"Don't worry about it," she said, shooting him a look over her shoulder. She turned back to the men in front of them. "Look, I know I took that job, but we all know the old man didn't deserve to have a hit put out for his life," she called out, now reasoning with them.

"He owed us money! He's a criminal who refuses to pay his debts-"

"You mean money he's paid you five times over? Tell me Vestra, do you really think I'm in the business of killing people who don't deserve it? He lost his kids for gods sakes, and you're a band of thugs who like to take advantage of the little people. Of course I was going to side with him," she said calmly.

The native went back to speaking his first tongue and the mood took a turn, and Emma seemed far too calm for how vicious this person was to her.

Vestra, or so he was called, pulled out what looked to be like a blaster and started waving it around wildly. Emma's words only seemed like she was taunting him, egging him on. Kylo watched, and it was almost like time slowed down as the man screamed at her and her final words, and fired a shot in her direction.

She didn't even flinch. She didn't even make an attempt to block the blast. She just stood there, leaning against her sword that was stuck into the ground. The beam came to a stop just inches away from her neck and she smirked. She turned to see Kylo with his hand outstretched, keeping the beam from getting any closer to her. She leaned away from it, smirking as she did so. "Thank you deary," she said, causing Kylo to falter as he let the beam go, it exploding in the snow behind her. His jaw clenched as he pulled his fists together.

The men before them stood in a stunned silence, watching as her sudden cocky behavior turned dark and menacing. The smirk faded from her face, and was instead replaced with dark eyes and a harsh snarl. Kylo even watched, almost like he was in awe as the aura around her went from childish to ominous in mere seconds. He took a step back, wanting to watch now instead of intervene.

She threw her arms out, the hilts of her light sabers snapping in her hands with little effort. She crossed her arms in front of her, almost like she was showing off as she pressed another button and the hilts extended, almost to the point where they were as long as her forearms. The bright red blades erupted, casting her face in a red glow.

Vestra sent a flurry of blasts towards her, making her jump into action. She deflected, the blade of her lightsaber sizzling as the beams simply disintegrated with a flick of her wrist as the blade spun in front of her, creating a shield to protect her. As fast as her blades were, she was unable to deflect all of them, and a blast hit her directly in the shoulder, causing her to recoil and clutch at the wound. The blast was powerful enough it left a hole in her clothes and a nasty burn deep into her shoulder. Vestra's men charged at her, weapons drawn as she twirled one of her sabers in her hand.

She cut through them so easily, it was like she never left her Force abilities to rot once she found her rhythm. Her lightsabers in her hands made her feel complete again. A stab in the shoulder, a slice through the back, it was so easy to find her rhythm again. Her foot slipped in the snow and she recovered by using the spin to take a man's leg off before piercing through his chest as he lay on the ground.

She was far more skilled than he originally thought, and Kylo was almost impressed. Her pacing was good, her form almost exquisite and polished like she had impeccable control. She'd even throw in little flares, her own style into her taught ways like small steps to add to her power behind her blows, small twirls of her blade to make it all the more deadly.

She was showing off, and he felt almost certain that it was for him. She was finally given a chance to stretch her Force abilities, and she was enjoying every minute of it. He was fascinated, only thinking of her potential should she let herself loose without the alcohol coursing through her system.

As his last man fell to her blade, the man named Vestra decided to run for his life. As he turned on his heels and headed up the steep hill surrounding the town, Emma twirled her saber in her hand, drew her arm back, and threw her lightsaber like a spear, piercing the chest of the fleeing man. The man hit the ground, and with an outstretched hand Emma called her blade back to her hand.

She exhaled loudly. She clicked the buttons on the hilts, the blades retracting and she returned her sabers to her belt, the extended grips still visible and swirling an odd blackish red from the Kyber crystals glow inside. She headed up the hill, dragging her feet in the snow.

"So, are you going to offer me a job?" she said, picking up guns and weapons and throwing them far out of reach of the thugs just in case she hadn't brutally murdered them all and one managed to miraculously survive.

Kylo cocked his head and watched with furrowed brows as she reached the top of the hill and turned to face him. He was almost floored, how she seemed to read his mind.

"Have you retaken your Gray oath?" he asked, able to find his voice before she made it to the top of the hill.

"I've been away from the power of the Force for a long time. I'm not going to do anything regarding oaths for a long time. What, is the First Order too good for mercenaries?" she said, putting a hand on her hip and sticking another one of her swords in the ground to lean on.

"The First Order has a network of intelligent spies. Why would we need you?" he said, his voice manipulator making his words sound a lot more harsh than he intended them to.

"Do you need a reason besides Force sensitive?" she said, almost sarcastically so as she crossed her ankles.

"Even as a Gray, you decide to do the bidding of the Dark Side?" He couldn't grasp onto her plan. He knew she was up to something, why else would she try to impress upon him to such a great length? She destroyed her reputation on her home planet for a chance to work for the First Order. She had to have some other motive, and no matter how hard he pressed, she wouldn't cave.

"I said I was a Gray Jedi. I never said I was one of the good ones; matter of fact I'm no where close to being one of the good ones," she said with a wicked smirk. "Not only that, but your so called 'master' doesn't want me to tag along. He must know something I don't, and I want to find out."

"You would be toying with a god then," he said.

"It's always fun playing games with higher beings," she chuckled, pulling her sword out of the snow and putting it back in it's sheath.

He had to admire her will at least, even though she was absolutely manic. After letting her go out into the wild, he was starting to see her true colors; she was absolutely insane and by no means anywhere close to stable, and he was loving every minute of it when she wasn't driving him up the wall.

He didn't have time to speak to her before she turned around, apparently startled by something behind her. He watched closely as her body went from relaxed to tense.

"Run!"

She started running at top speed down the hill after giving her warning, but it still happened so fast that it gave him little time to process. A high pitched noise got closer to them, and Emma barreled into him, sending him running in the same direction she was without further question.

The destroyed little bar not far behind them was hit with a beam from an X-Wing, and the explosion sent them flying.

The two hit the ground hard, rolling in the snow to a stop as the X-Wing that shot at them pulled up it's nose away from the ground and the fiery explosion. As Kylo hit the ground and rolled, his mind went blank, save for three little words.

She saved him.

Why?

When he came to a stop, his lungs were on fire as he realized the wind had been knocked from him. He coughed as he hoisted himself off the ground, trying to catch his breath as he clutched his side. He looked to his right, not seeing Emma anywhere in his sight. His heart was in his throat now as he scrambled in the loose snow, searching frantically for the woman who saved his life. He threw off his helmet, knowing that realistically, their odds of getting out of this predicament alive were slim to none, especially if he was now to face the Resistance alone, or at least until his men realized something was wrong.

He didn't understand. Normally the Resistance liked to show off their fire power, flaunt how skilled they were but always backed away when he was involved. He knew his mother was behind them, and even after all he'd done to her, she still had a weak spot for him. She could never kill her own blood, apparently until now.

This was the first time in a while where he wasn't calm and collected as he normally was. His emotions were flying out of control; he was angry mostly, but there were still emotions in his chest he didn't exactly know how to deal with, let alone had he experienced before. When the realization hit that they attacked one of his kind, his shoulders broadened. They weren't going to get away with this.

"Emma!" he screamed as another explosion went off. He ducked out of instinct, and then turned to see her little hut had gone up in flames. That's when he realized this wasn't a search and rescue mission. This was seek and destroy.

He looked to his left, and to his relief he saw her sprawled out in the snow on her back. When he realized very quickly that she wasn't moving, he ran as fast as the snow allowed him, falling to his knees as he got to her side. He picked her head up from the snow, hoping she was just knocked unconscious and not dead.

She coughed, gasping for air as he lifted her head and a wave of relief washed over him. He checked over her quickly, seeing no wounds or blood. Their chances of getting out of this alive were getting stronger. Bright blue eyes stared back at him, however this wasn't the time for sentiment. He forced himself to look away after their eyes locked, and as he stood up, he helped her to her feet.

"Who are these people?" she asked, coughing as she stood up. They watched as the two ships circled, searching for them in the heavy smoke.

"Resistance," Kylo said simply, picking his helmet off the ground and forcing it back over his head. He was getting sloppy, letting his emotions get out of control. He straightened his back, and threw his hood over his head. "These are the ones who I said found you. Apparently they are refusing to play nice, which is highly unusual."

"Great, so now what do we do about it?" she said, almost rolling her eyes at his overly detailed answer. She reached her hand out, calling out to her other sword still stuck in the ground over by the burning building. It snapped to her hand, and she sheathed it with a quick motion.

"My men will soon realize something has gone awry if they haven't yet discovered it. We wait it out until then," he said, withdrawing his lightsaber from his belt and turning it on.

"What, no plan of attack?" she said, her voice going higher as she reached for her sabers as well.

"I have a plan," he said, exiting the safe haven they had under the smoke of the burning building.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes so far into her skull she just about gave herself a headache. "Men," she mumbled, following him out into the open.

No sooner than when they hit open air, the sounds of blasters rang out as an X-Wing took aim at them. With a swift move of his hand, Kylo sent the beams of plasma careening off course, exploding into the snow far away from where he and Emma were standing. He extended a hand, index finger pointing directly at the air craft heading right towards him. Emma watched as its wings dipped, and then with a powerful push of his hand, the craft nose dived straight into the snowbanks and exploding into an impressive amount of flames.

He was incredibly strong, she had to give him that.

Another two X-Wings erupted from the trees, zooming along close enough to the ground that if she reached up as they passed over, she could touch the belly of the ship.

"We can't stay out in the open for much longer. Two humans against three jets isn't exactly in our favor," she yelled over the roar of the ships passing over as she went to Kylo's side. They watched as the three jets suddenly got in a formation, looped across the sky and headed back around and lined up.

Kylo put out an arm, forcing her to stand behind him as the three jets got closer to them. He reached out with his hand, and as the jets fired he curled his fingers.

Explosions went off all around them, however a shield kept them from being utterly destroyed. Emma flinched as they were surrounded by a ball of fire that would have consumed them if not for Ren's bubble of a shield. She stared at him, shocked.

_That's a Jedi trick._

As the fire roared around them, she watched Kylo intently, suddenly flooded with questions. He had just as many secrets and ghosts in his shadows as she did. She watched as the fire slowly faded, and she could see the X-Wings coming back around for another pass. She stepped forward, putting a hand on his arm and forcing him to lower his guard.

"We need. To go," she said firmly as the wind suddenly blew hair in her face. She knew if she let Kylo have his fun, the more pilots would end up dead and the more chances they had to make a mistake. He recoiled from her touch, almost snatching his arm from her grasp and twirling his lightsaber like it was a nervous tick. They both sheathed their sabers, and though she started heading for the treeline, Kylo stayed put.

She pulled his arm, much to his resistance as she ran for the treeline while the X-Wings were still far enough away that they couldn't be seen. Before they even made it to the tree line, the high pitched whine of TIE-Fighters got closer at an alarming rate, erupting over the tree tops with a flurry of missile fire just as they got to the open field. They stumbled as the ground shook as more explosions went off, and Kylo pulled Emma's arm towards the direction of his landing ship, which was a good distance away. The giant wings of his ship unfolded as the hatch released, and they made a run for it.

A pilot must have spotted them, because their casual run became a full on sprint towards safety as rockets fired, following them all the way towards his ship and only ceasing when one of the TIE-Fighter pilots crashed his ship deliberately into the X-Wing.

They made it to the ship relatively unharmed as a ball of fire erupted in the sky above them, and the moment their feet hit the metal floor of the ship, the hatch slammed closed, and they took off without any other mishaps.

Kylo pulled his helmet off, panting for breath as he hunched against the wall of his ship. Emma collapsed on the cool metal floor, breathing heavily as she closed her eyes and rolled on her back, ignoring her swords awkwardly digging into her back through the sheathes.

"Well that was fun," she said, completely out of breath as she sat up, hunching her shoulders.

"You're hired," Kylo said, still breathing hard as he sat on the floor next to her.


End file.
